MESOPOTAMIA NEWS : PKK/PYD(SDF) STAR A NEW! – SDF resumes anti-IS campaign after talks with US-led coalition

11 Nov 2018 ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – Following intensive discussions with the US-led coalition, the General Command of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) on Sunday announced the resumption of military operations against fighters from the Islamist State (IS) in Syria’s eastern city of Deir al-Zor.

On Oct. 31, the SDF said it had decided to temporarily halt its campaign against the jihadist group until Turkey ended its attack on Syria’s northeast.In response, the US-led coalition said it would try to de-escalate ongoing tensions between Turkey and forces from the SDF, the coalition’s main partner against IS.In Sunday’s announcement, the SDF said it had decided to resume military operations against IS, after “contacts between the General Command of our forces and the leaders of the international coalition, as well as active diplomacy aimed at defusing the crisis at the border.”Three days earlier, Kurdistan 24 reported on meetings between the US, France, and the SDF in the town of Ain Issa with the goal to resume operations against IS east of the Euphrates.

The SDF said that the decision came “as a result of intensive contacts between the General Command of our forces and the leaders of the international coalition, as well as active diplomatic movement aimed at defusing the crisis on the border, and positive calls by allies for restraint and [to] focus efforts to fight against terrorism and to pursue it in a contribution to support stability in the region.”

It further specified that, while the ground attacks had earlier been temporarily halted, US-led coalition strikes continued.

On Nov. 9, the US-led coalition “successfully struck and destroyed an ISIS observation post and staging area in Hajin, void of civilians at the time and tracking with surveillance assets,” US Army Colonel Sean Ryan, Spokesperson for Operation Inherent Resolve (OIR), told Kurdistan 24.Moreover, the SDF said that IS militants then unsuccessfully tried to exploit the situation by attacking its forces.Another SDF announcement read, “ISIS exploited the Turkish attacks on border villages in Tal Abyad and Kobani, that forced our forces to stop the campaign pending on the elimination of threats on the border, the terrorist organization launched counter-offensive operations using car bombs and so-called ‘Al-Inghmasi’ (suicide attacks), taking advantage of the military conditions.”

It continued with the claim that special units of the SDF, in coordination with the coalition, assisted with helicopters and arrested a senior IS leader in Raqqa.

“This indicates that the organization still has roots and dormant cells even in the liberated areas, and therefore there is a need to continue this alliance and long-term cooperation to prevent the reemergence of the terrorist organization,” the SDF said.

On Nov. 2, a prominent Raqqa tribal leader was killed in an attack claimed by IS. The SDF then called on civilians, to “avoid ISIS positions and move away from potential targeting places,” assuring that its forces posed no “threat to anyone” and would protect nearby borders.“We fully know that discussions are the best way to provide all the necessary solutions to all our problems,” the SDF said, in an apparent indirect message to Turkey.Nicholas A. Heras, a Fellow at the Center for a New American Security, told Kurdistan 24 that the SDF can continue operations now that the US is preventing further Turkish cross-border attacks.

“The SDF knows that it retains strong U.S. support so long as it remains the only counter ISIS force that the United States can count on in Syria,” he said. “The SDF must also be satisfied that the U.S. will protect it from Turkish land grabs east of the Euphrates,” he continued, “and can therefore afford to turn attention back to the last ISIS pockets,” in Deir al-Zor.

Editing by John J. Catherine